To us academics, the public debate often seems corrupted by oversimplification, misinformation, confusion and plain lies. Sometimes these prove decisive in determining the outcome of an election or a referendum. And when academics try to share their knowledge and correct the mistakes, they are now dismissed as belonging to a biased elite at least as often as listened to with the respect they believe they are owed.

The purpose of this Ethical Forum was to stimulate reflection on the important questions:

What explains this apparent decline in people's trust in academic authority? What should academics do to regain it? What is their responsibility in a "post-truth" public realm crowded with "alternative facts"?